4 ms·

I'm a little bit more senior (4 years experience) than a new junior and not a developer per se (work in marketing tech) but my biggest gripe are the hurdles yo

I'm a little bit more senior (4 years experience) than a new junior and not a developer per se (work in marketing tech) but my biggest gripe are the hurdles you have to do to reach the hiring manager (or how drawn out some of these processes are). Some of these I've experienced are: 1. Cover letters - I'd rather someone from HR screen my resume and give me a 3 minute call about why I wanted to apply for the job. 2. Take home exercises/psychometrics before having an in person interview 3. Interview with junior staff before an interview (good experience for the staff but I've found them to be a bit unsure of what to ask.) 4. Vetting from HR or recruiters that don't really know the topic but are just looking for keywords which indicate competence (i.e. "SQL","Reporting", "Project Manage","Agile") or want to know why you want to work at the company specifically when the careers website has poor information. My ideal process would be (for a large company): Apply with Resume (ideally one-click apply) -> Short Chat with HR on phone -> In person interview with hiring manager -> Interview with senior manager (more on cultural fit and long term fit) or short take home (ability) -> Offer

amorphid 10y ago
Let's say you the one paying for the ideal hiring process you mentioned above. You're the owner of a bootstrapped business, or you're in a large company and have a fixed budget with which to work. You advertise a 10 junior positions, and get 100 applications per position (let's assume 1000 total unique individuals). In this situation, would you make any changes to your ideal hiring process mentioned above?
- Aeolun 10y ago
  You throw out 900 resumes between step 1 and 2 because they didn't manage to submit one without tens of spelling mistakes? I agree though that having everyone write a cover letter, that they can write in their own time, and that you can read in your own time is preferable though. Better yet, just leave off on the cover letter requirement.
  - collyw 10y ago
    What jobs are receiving 900 resumes? When we looked for a Django dev we got two applicants, and the good one of the two only wanted to work freelance. Admittedly we were looking for some experience.
    - amorphid 10y ago
      A lot of it is situational. A company in San Francisco hiring a junior Rails dev will probably get a LOT of recent bootcamp grads as applicants. Last I checked, most bootcamps were still focused on teaching Rails. So that's on factor. I was recruiting for Rails in SF, so that's part of it. You learn to optimize for challenges you have.
      - jackgolding 10y ago
        In that case would you throw out all the bootcamp grads? Would degree > bootcamp?
- jackgolding 10y ago
  A sibling post said this involves cutting people out at the pre-interview stage which I agree with. I don't know to what extent recommendations should be able to help int his "ideal process". I think this where proxy metrics like highest degree earned, years experience help. I've never worked for a company that gets 100s of qualified applications per position (edit: apart from call centre) and I'd wonder how a bootstrapped company would get so many applications?

amorphid 10y ago

Let's say you the one paying for the ideal hiring process you mentioned above. You're the owner of a bootstrapped business, or you're in a large company and have a fixed budget with which to work. You advertise a 10 junior positions, and get 100 applications per position (let's assume 1000 total unique individuals). In this situation, would you make any changes to your ideal hiring process mentioned above?

Aeolun 10y ago
You throw out 900 resumes between step 1 and 2 because they didn't manage to submit one without tens of spelling mistakes? I agree though that having everyone write a cover letter, that they can write in their own time, and that you can read in your own time is preferable though. Better yet, just leave off on the cover letter requirement.
- collyw 10y ago
  What jobs are receiving 900 resumes? When we looked for a Django dev we got two applicants, and the good one of the two only wanted to work freelance. Admittedly we were looking for some experience.
  - amorphid 10y ago
    A lot of it is situational. A company in San Francisco hiring a junior Rails dev will probably get a LOT of recent bootcamp grads as applicants. Last I checked, most bootcamps were still focused on teaching Rails. So that's on factor. I was recruiting for Rails in SF, so that's part of it. You learn to optimize for challenges you have.
    - jackgolding 10y ago
      In that case would you throw out all the bootcamp grads? Would degree > bootcamp?
jackgolding 10y ago
A sibling post said this involves cutting people out at the pre-interview stage which I agree with. I don't know to what extent recommendations should be able to help int his "ideal process". I think this where proxy metrics like highest degree earned, years experience help. I've never worked for a company that gets 100s of qualified applications per position (edit: apart from call centre) and I'd wonder how a bootstrapped company would get so many applications?